To Fly Above
by Emmalia Pendragon
Summary: Gwen has a secret. As a child, she was taken by scientists and turned into a Part-Human Part-Bird mutant, along with four other children. They've been on the run now for over a year, and Gwen decides the best way to hide is in plain sight: on Total Drama Island, a new reality show. However, she quickly learns that it won't be as easy as it seems. (LOOSELY BASED ON MAXIMUM RIDE)
1. Avian-Canadians

**A/N Hello everyone! So I've decided to upload this new Total Drama story for a couple of reasons. The main one is because I really like the concept of this story but I'm finding it difficult to be motivated to continue it. Therefore, I've decided that uploading it here would be the best way to gain more motivation!**

 **Another important thing to note is that not everything in this chapter will make sense, because a lot of explanations will be seen in later chapters. I hope you enjoy it!**

 **Chapter 1: Avian-Canadians**

The first thing Gwen saw when she woke up was a rather cheeky grin coming from none other than Cody. With a groan, she pushed herself up into a sitting position, making sure her face showed just how annoyed she was with being woken up on a rare day off of Chris's torture.

"What do you want?" Gwen asked, her voice monotone.

"You're late!" Cody exclaimed, reaching forward and grabbing Gwen's wrist in an attempt to pull her out of bed.

Gwen rolled her eyes. "I'm not late. Also, how did you get in here anyways? This is the _girls_ side, remember?"

"You're the only one still in here, it wasn't that hard," Cody shrugged. "But _come on_ , you promised that we would meet the others at the top of the mountain today!'

Gwen sighed, knowing that he was right. Reluctantly, Gwen stood up and walked over to the dresser that held the Gopher girls' clothes.

"Are you going to stand there and watch me change, or do I get some privacy?" Gwen asked, bite in her voice.

"Oh, sorry," Cody said quickly. "I'll be up with the others on the hill."

Gwen nodded in agreement before quickly changing into her clothes, discarding her pajamas into another drawer. She quickly took a comb through her hair a couple of times, deciding that she didn't entirely care how she looked today.

Getting out of camp unnoticed was easier than usual. Trent, who usually sat with his guitar in by the lake in the mornings, was nowhere to be seen. A few other campers milled about, but took no notice to Gwen as she darted into the woods. After five minutes of running, Gwen decided that she was out far enough to not be seen. She glanced around for cameras, but saw none.

With a fast sprint and a large leap into the air, Gwen's wings sprouted out from her back.

Gwen pushed herself to a fast speed, extending her arms in front of her to break the harsh air hitting her face. In only a matter of seconds, Gwen was at the top of the mountain. She gently landed on the grass, retracting her wings back into her body.

"Gwen!" Bridgette exclaimed with a grin, standing up from her previous spot on the ground next to Cody.

"Nice of you to finally show up," Duncan said with a scowl and an eyeroll. "Only took you an hour."

"Shut up," Gwen said. "Like you didn't just get up five minutes ago, too."

Duncan grinned slightly. "I would deny it, if you didn't know it was true."

"Perks of the Link," Gwen noted, returning a grin.

"Now we're just missing-" Cody started. As if on cue, an object flying at top speed flew overhead, circling them in rapid fashion before finally landing onto the ground next to Duncan.

"Izzy." Cody finished. "How's life off the island?"

"Great, once I finally ditched the RCMP!" The redhead said, extremely chirpy in her voice.

"I still can't believe you managed to get them on your tail," Gwen groaned. "As if it wasn't hard enough to keep our secret."

Izzy chuckled. "Please, like they'd ever actually catch me. Not when I can literally disappear into thin air!" As if to prove a point, Izzy turned herself transparent.

"Oh, I hate when she does that!" Cody said. "Izzy, please make yourself visible again."

"If you insist," Izzy turned herself visible again, though this time she had a little bird sitting on her shoulder. Gwen decided not to ask.

"So, since you all wanted to meet here so bad, are we going to fly or not?" Gwen asked impatiently.

"What, got a hot date?" Cody teased. "With _Trent?"_

Gwen huffed. "Definitely not."

"Still mad about the ditching you underground thing, eh?" Duncan asked.

Gwen rolled her eyes again. "It was a sucky move, but I'm over it. Just not particularly into guys who can't keep promises."

"You'll forgive him eventually," Bridgette noted. "He likes you, you know. A lot."

"I'm done with this conversation," Gwen said. "I'm going, feel free to join me. Or stick around and talk about my love life, whatever you choose."

With that, Gwen threw herself off of the cliff, sprouting her wings and taking off away from the island.

 _"Yo princess, wanna slow down for the rest of us? Not everyone can fly as fast as you, you know,"_ Duncan said in her head.

 _"Don't call me princess,"_ Gwen scolded. She slowed down her pace a bit, and turned her head to see the other four flying after her.

 _"What, jealous that you aren't the only princess I know anymore?"_ Duncan retorted, though with a teasing tone.

" _Yeah because I_ _ **totally**_ _care that you call Courtney, aka the biggest suck up I've ever met, princess,_ " Gwen responded sarcastically.

"Hey, do you guys want to speak out loud for a bit," Cody interjected, finally catching up with Gwen.

"Sorry," Gwen mumbled.

"It's still not fair that you two got a personal mental link," Cody whined. "Why can't you and I have one, too?"

"I really don't want to know what _you_ think about all day," Gwen responded.

"Fair enough," Cody shrugged. "But still, feel free to talk aloud."

"Sure thing, pipsqueak," Duncan said with a devious smile, flying over Cody and ruffling his hair, much to the younger boy's horror.

"Hey!" He exclaimed, trying to pat his hair back into order. Gwen couldn't help but smile at the small exchange. These boys, and Bridgette and Izzy, are the only family she has.

Their story is a complicated one, and Gwen herself doesn't even know every detail. The first memory she has is being strapped to a surgical table at the age of 5, people in white lab coats with green masks covering their mouths hovering over her, speaking in rushed whispers.

Gwen and the others were all created and raised in a lab facility. Though, raised is a very generous term. Gwen's childhood consisted of locked rooms, hours of testing per day, surgery after surgery, and little to no contact with other children. She'd only met the other four when they were all shoved in cages next to each other, a couple of days before their escape. It was there that Gwen learned Cody was her younger brother.

Gwen still isn't quite sure how it is possible for Cody to be her brother, since all of them were taken as babies. Really, she can't just wrap her head around the fact that someone would give up two babies to a facility that turned them into freaks.

But regardless, Cody is the only family Gwen has. Even if he is really annoying, and despite the fact that his idea of pretending to have a crush on Gwen to throw people off is totally weirding her out half the time.

"Yo Princess, what's got you down?" Duncan called out from a few hundred feet ahead of her. "You're flying slower than little Cody over here with his 12-foot wingspan."

"Hey!" Cody protested. "My wings are just as good as yours."

In typical Duncan fashion, the punk teen smirked and leaned back, flying a backflip over Cody before shooting up and pushing the younger boy into the air before letting him fall. Cody yelped out and took a few seconds to recover, falling a few hundred feet before finally regaining his balance.

"Tell me when you can do that," Duncan shouted down from where he was.

"Boys," Bridgette said from next to Gwen with an eye roll. "How have we managed to stay safe so far?"

"I ask myself that every day," Gwen responded with a slight chuckle. "Honestly, sometimes I think we'd be better off ditching them in Australia and flying far, far away."

"Sounds like a plan," Bridgette said with a wide grin.

Suddenly, Gwen heard Izzy groan from behind them, followed by the sound of wings flailing through the air. She stopped and turned around to see Izzy falling with her eyes closed.

" _Duncan!"_ Gwen shouted through their Link. " _Izzy is falling, I don't think she's conscious!"_

Gwen took off, shooting down to catch up to Izzy. Luckily, the goth was able to reach her in a matter of seconds. Gwen hooked her arms under Izzy's and attempted to pull her up, but Gwen was only able to slow the freefall both of them were now succumbing to.

Duncan finally caught up to them and grabbed Izzy's knees, pushing up with his wings as hard as he can. Gwen and Duncan together were able to stop Izzy from hitting the ground, though the fact that they were hovering only a hundred feet from the ground was enough to send a chill down Gwen's spine.

"Huh? Wha- What happened?" Izzy asked groggily. She glanced around a few times, gently flapping her wings.

"No, you aren't flying now," Duncan ordered. "We'll land you up on the hill until we know you're okay."

"Aye aye, Captain Duncan," Izzy saluted with a weak smile. Duncan exchanged a look with Gwen before the two flew Izzy back over to land, with Bridgette and Cody trailing behind. Once Izzy was safely seated on the ground, wings pulled back in, Gwen explained what happened.

"You just started falling, and you looked like you were in pain," Gwen told her.

Izzy spaced out for a moment before gasping. "I had a vision!"

"That's never good," Brigette noted. "What was it this time?"

Izzy glanced warily at Cody, hesitation obvious. "It was about Cody… I think something bad is going to happen to him."

"What do you mean?" Cody asked. His voice was panicky, and Gwen put an arm around her brother, pulling him close to her.

"You know I can't see much with my visions, mainly I just get strong feelings that you'll be facing in the future," Izzy said. "This vision brought a lot of pain, which is probably why I passed out. I recall seeing your face right before."

"Aw man, this sucks!" Cody exclaimed. "Of course, _I'm_ going to be injured."

"You're going to be fine, I promise," Gwen assured him. "I won't let anything happen to you."

Gwen knew that was a complete lie, as Izzy's "visions" were never wrong. However, Gwen also knew that Cody would not be able to live the next couple of days without seeming extremely anxious if he didn't have some sort of assurance he would be okay. The last thing Gwen wanted, besides Cody to be hurt, was for him to accidentally blurt out some secret.

"Whatever, I'm going back," Cody announced, extending his wings. "If I'm gonna die, I might as well hit on Lindsay a few more times before I go."

Cody launched himself off of the ground, Gwen rolling her eyes at her brother's antics. Secretly, she was extremely worried about Cody. Duncan must have sensed this, because he was staring at her from a few feet away. Not wanting to deal with his or the others' concerns and consolations, Gwen extended her own wings and pushed herself into the air, taking off towards the clearing in the woods again.

When Gwen reentered the camp, she saw Trent sitting on one of the picnic tables with a notebook in hand and guitar in his lap. He looked up at Gwen and smiled, which Gwen returned.

"Hey, what are you working on?" Gwen asked, taking a seat beside him.

"A new song that I've been writing for a few days," Trent answered. "It's about this show, and how it's changing me."

"Can I hear some?" Gwen asked, hopeful. She loved it when Trent sang, but he rarely ever did.

"Sure, but you have to promise not to laugh," Trent said with a cheeky grin. "The lyrics aren't perfect, and the chords don't match perfectly."

"Like I would even notice," Gwen said. "Now go on!"

" _Times are new, I'm here with you_

 _I feel myself slipping away, and_

 _Challenges I, daily face_

 _But all we've overcome_

 _The summer's warm wind, with us now_

 _The fire's dancing, round and round_

 _The struggles that I deal with now_

 _Are worth it when you are around,"_ Trent sang, trailing off at the end. "That's all I have so far."

"It's really good," Gwen replied honestly. "I don't know how you come up with the inspirations for this song."

A slight blush crept up on Trent's cheek. "Well, it's not so hard when the people around you are extraordinary."

Gwen smiled and turned away, trying to hide her own blushing cheeks. They stayed like that for a few moments.

"Gwen!" Bridgette's voice shrilled.

"Way to ruin the moment," Gwen muttered under her breath. She gave Trent an apologetic look, to which he of course smiled and shrugged in response to, before standing up to walk with Bridgette.


	2. Prophetic Worries

Dinner that night was extremely awkward. At least, it was for Gwen and Cody.

The siblings hadn't actually talked about Izzy's vision yet, and since the redhead disappeared back off somewhere on the island after Gwen left, she wasn't available to give more light to the situation. So, that meant Gwen and Cody both sat in a combined state of anxiety, though with all of the surrounding cameras, discussion about said anxiety wasn't able to take place.

" _Princess, you've got to calm down a bit,"_ Duncan's voice entered Gwen's thoughts. " _I can feel your nerves from over here, and that's without tapping into your emotions."_

Gwen glanced up and saw Duncan laughing about something with DJ over at the Bass table. _"Well, at least you're not taking this too seriously."_

Duncan glanced over at Gwen, who was sat with a scowl. " _Are you kidding? I'm terrified just like you are. Cody's like my little brother, I can't stand the thought of him being hurt. But we have no clue when it's going to happen, so for now we need to act like everything's okay."_

 _"Which we all know you're just_ _ **great**_ _at doing,"_ Gwen huffed, drawing the attention of Lindsay briefly. Thankfully, the blonde snapped right back into her discussion with Beth.

" _Really? This conversation again?"_ Gwen could hear the annoyed tone in Duncan's voice.

" _No, but I just don't understand how you seem so calm. Even Bridgette keeps glancing over at Cody occasionally,"_ Gwen said. She smiled at Trent as he slid a likely-stale muffin onto her plate.

"Thanks," Gwen mumbled as she took the muffin in her hands.

"No problem," Trent smiled back.

 _"You clearly have no problem flirting with Guitar man over there in the midst of this,"_ Duncan noted, albeit sarcastically.

" _I was being nice,"_ Gwen protested.

" _Yeah, well see how nice he is when you blab our secret to him,"_ Duncan shot at her.

Gwen glared at him, though the punk was turned towards Geoff. _"I'm not going to "blab" our secret to him. I'm not an idiot."_

 _"Love makes us do strange things,"_ Duncan responded _._

 _"I don't love him. I barely even like him,"_ Gwen fought _._

 _"Liar,"_ Duncan said.

 _"_ _ **SHUT UP,"**_ Gwen exclaimed. However, as dozens of heads snapped towards her, Gwen realized too late that the words meant for the Link had escaped her mouth into the real world. Gwen glanced around momentarily before standing up and storming out of the Mess Hall door. She heard footsteps following her.

"Not now, Trent," Gwen asked, quickening her pace.

" _Not Trent,"_ Duncan's voice rang. Gwen stopped suddenly. She huffed angrily, turning around and shooting Duncan her best death glare.

"Way to make me look like some freak in front of the entire world," Gwen spat. "You're so lucky the cameras don't record during dinner, or else we'd have a lot of explaining to do."

"We still might. Your boyfriend was giving me a strange look for chasing you out here. Other-Princess was too. Think she was jealous," Duncan mused.

"You shouldn't have followed me anyways," Gwen said angrily. "You just have to push me over the line every time, don't you?"

"Look, I'm sorry," Duncan said. "I didn't think you'd take it that far, but I should have known better."

"No kidding," Gwen retorted. "Normally, I could handle it. But today's really not the best day, you know."

Duncan sighed. "I messed up, I know. But look, Izzy's predicted deaths before. She didn't predict that Cody would die. I know him getting hurt is your worst nightmare, but focus on the fact that he'll be okay."

Gwen stared at him for a moment, judging whether or not he was serious. "We'd better get back, they'll be gossiping about us now," Gwen said. She started to head back to the Mess, when Duncan grabbed her wrist.

"Or," He started, displaying a mischievous smile. "We could take advantage of the cameras being off and go for a fly. Maybe test out our powers?"

Gwen really wanted to say no, but the chance to not be in the same room with Heather for another couple of hours appealed too much.

"Fine," Gwen agreed. "But if anyone asks when we get back, I was taking a walk in the forest and you were raiding the boathouse."

Duncan rolled his eyes. "Always have to plan in advance. Okay, fine."

Duncan extended his wings behind him. Midnight black, they blended well among the shadows of Camp. Gwen extended her own, but their ombre-tawny-to-white stuck out like a sore thumb.

"Let's go, before someone sees us," Gwen said. In synch, the teens pushed themselves off the ground and shooting into the air.

 **oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

"Well, well, well, looks like Trent has some competition," Heather said once Gwen returned to camp. Despite Duncan not returning at the same time as her, Gwen knew that people would still put two and two together.

"Your brain cells compete for dominance every day," Gwen sneered. "Yet somehow, none of them seem to ever win."

Heather scoffed, flipping her hair. "Oh please, you think I'm affected by such low-class insults?"

"I think you're affected by low-class dye jobs," Gwen replied easily. "Seriously, you might want to consider switching dyes. Talk about tacky."

Heather huffed. "Whatever, date who you want. Just remember that you'll probably be voted off if you date a Bass. How can we trust you then?"

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Trust me, I'm not dating Duncan. Nor will I ever date Duncan."

"Damn, that's harsh," Duncan said from behind Gwen. "She's right though. Courtney is the only girl for me."

As if to prove his point, Duncan winked at the former CIT, who was sitting with Sadie on the steps to the Bass cabin. Courtney deadpanned before flipping him off. Gwen couldn't stifle the laugh that escaped her throat.

"Psh, she'll come to me eventually," Duncan assured both girls before walking off.

"What an ogre," Heather scorned. "I'm so glad he's not my problem to deal with."

"Yeah, lucky us," Gwen agreed, albeit sarcastically. Heather shot one more icy glare at Gwen before stalking off, shouting to Lindsay and Beth about preparing the showers for her.

The darkness of night began to settle in to camp, and slowly everyone retreated back into their cabins in preparation for the next day's promisingly brutal challenge. Gwen felt sleep tugging at her, but a certain black-haired boy sitting on the docks caught her attention. Trent turned his head slightly at the sound of feet walking on the creaky pier.

"Hey," Trent greeted Gwen with a smile, though Gwen noted how it was not as genuine as usual.

"Are you alright?" Gwen asked. She was concerned that the day's events had somehow upset Trent. Gwen lowered herself onto the pier, kicking off her shoes and dipping her feet in the cool water.

Trent laughed sadly. "I don't know, I guess something's been bothering me."

"What is it?" Gwen asked, though she had a feeling his answer would have to do with a certain punk Killer Bass.

Trent sighed slowly. "I'll be blunt. Is there something going on with you and Duncan?"

"Absolutely not," Gwen assured him.

"Well, you two sure seem to be getting close," Trent responded.

Gwen placed her hand on top of Trent's, smiling at him. "Duncan is my friend. We're close, but not in _that_ way. He only has eyes for Courtney, I can assure you that."

Trent grinned back at her, a mischievous look in his eyes. "And you? Who do you have eyes for?"

Gwen laughed. "Good night, Trent," She answered with a grin, standing up and walking off towards her cabin. She could hear Trent's own laugh echoing after her, and for once Gwen actually felt a twinge of warmth in her chest.


	3. Paintball Deer Hunt

The sound of loud helicopter blades overhead woke up the Gopher girls early in the morning. Gwen blinked groggily, mentally cursing at Chris for his ideas of a good wake-up call. She heard a large bump coming from across the room, followed quickly by Leshawna's voice.

"Ahh! Okay, that dude is _really_ starting to get on my last nerve!" She shouted.

Heather yawned. "Oh, whatever. He just loves ruining our mornings. Beth, Lindsay, go warm up the shower for me, _now_." She ordered. Gwen rolled over slightly to watch the exchange. "And remember-"

"Not too hot this time, I know," Beth responded with a yawn. As Heather's cronies left to head to the showers, Gwen stood up from her bed and faced Heather.

"You do know that they aren't your personal servants, right?" Gwen asked sarcastically as she pulled out her clothes from a drawer.

Heather scoffed. "If they are willing to help me, then why not allow them to?"

" _Willing, sure_ ," Gwen thought to herself. "Whatever, but you can at least thank them when they come back."

"They'll get my thanks when they aren't voted off," Heather snapped. "Now go change and stop bothering me."

"Gladly," Gwen muttered. She exchanged a glance with Leshawna, who was scowling and shaking her head.

After changing, Gwen headed outside. She figured that the challenge wouldn't start for at least an hour, giving her plenty of time for a morning fly around the island.

" _Duncan, I'm going for a fly,"_ Gwen alerted him.

" _I would offer to come, but I'm trying to get Courtney to admit she's in love with me,"_ Duncan responded cooly.

" _Good luck with that,"_ Gwen rolled her eyes.

" _I won't need luck,"_ Duncan assured her.

" _You'll need a lot more than luck to get Courtney to not hate you,"_ Gwen teased, though slightly serious. " _Let alone love you."_

She heard Duncan scoff. " _Whatever, go enjoy your flight. Maybe you'll find where Izzy's been hiding these past two days."_

" _I don't even want to know,"_ Gwen responded. Duncan didn't respond, so Gwen let the conversation die there. Gwen took off running into the woods, unaware that a certain someone had their eyes watching her.

 **oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Gwen was in the middle of doing a backflip high above the island when she heard Chris's gloriously annoying voice booming from the loudspeaker.

"I hope you're ready for the most challenging challenge yet! Breakfast in three minutes by the campfire pit," He announced. Gwen rolled her eyes, briefly contemplating just not showing up for the challenge. However, she knew this was most likely not going to work out in her favor, so the Avian-Canadian girl landed in the forest, quickly making her way up to the campfire pit.

Most of the campers were already there. Trent smiled at Gwen when she arrived, beckoning her over to a seat that he'd seemingly saved for her. Gwen accepted, taking a seat next to him and trying to hide a blush rising on her cheeks.

" _Disgusting,"_ Duncan's voice appeared. Gwen decided not to respond, not wanting a repeat of yesterday's events.

Chris suddenly appeared in his usual annoying fashion, sporting a grin that Gwen really wanted to slap right off his face.

"Are you ready for today's _Extreme Max Impact Challenge?!"_ He asked with way too much enthusiasm.

"We. Are. READY!" Owen yelled back, fist pumping the air. Gwen suppressed a groan.

"Incoming!" Chris exclaimed. A can of beans appeared from nowhere, and Chris chucked the can straight at Gwen's head. Her reflexes kicked in fast, and she lunged out to catch it. However, Trent apparently got the same idea, causing the two to crash into each other, and the can of beans instead hit Bridgette's stomach.

" _Oof,"_ She gasped.

"Bridgette, are you okay?!" Gwen asked, spinning around with her protective instincts coming on in full force.

"I'm fine," Bridgette chuckled weakly.

"What was that, Chris?" Duncan snapped from a few seats away.

"This is breakfast," Chris announced. The host threw cans – albeit calmer this time, to the thanks of everyone—into everyone's arms. No one seemed as amused as the host. No one except, of course, Owen. The teen giggled in delight at the prospect of beans.

"No, breakfast is crepes, croissants, even Chef's crappy burnt eggs," Heather protested.

"Beans, beans, they're good for your heart!" Owen sang, extremely off-key. "The more you eat the more you-"

Owen's horrific singing was cut off by the sound of metal clanging against this head. Gwen, for once, was thankful for Chris.

Chris rambled off the parameters of the day's challenge, which Gwen honestly couldn't care less about. She was given a pair of deer ears and some glasses to wear before Chris sent the "deer" off into the forest to hide.

Somehow Gwen got stuck walking next to Heather, with Trent and Cody following behind. The fact that all four of them looked completely ridiculous did nothing to brighten her mood.

"This may be the lamest thing I've ever done in my life," Gwen muttered.

"Oh, come on!" Cody exclaimed. "It could be fun."

The other three all deadpanned at the younger boy's words.

"Okay, catch you later," Cody sputtered before taking off down a different path. Gwen almost called out to him, worried that he was walking straight into injury, but stopped herself. Heather then said something about waiting for Beth and Lindsay to guard her, but Gwen couldn't care less and thus took Trent and walked far away from Heather.

The two walked in a comfortable silence. However, Trent had to go and ruin it.

"So where did you disappear off to yesterday?" Trent asked suddenly.

Gwen stopped in her tracks. "What do you mean?"

"After dinner, you kind of disappeared for a while," Trent reminded her.

"Oh, yeah," Gwen sighed. "I just needed some time to myself, you know? I'm kind of going crazy being stuck in a camp full of lunatics."

Trent chuckled. "Yeah, they definitely aren't the sanest people out there."

"Hey, I'm talking about you, too," Gwen teased. "You're no less crazy."

"Right back at you," Trent responded with a cheeky grin, causing Gwen to giggle, much to her disdain. The two teammates spent a long time walking through the forest in easy conversation. Things were, for once, somewhat peaceful. Almost too peaceful, however. Gwen knew Chris, and she knew that he never failed to cause a lot of drama. So, the fact that she and Trent had gone over half an hour with no issues was not only shocking, but a bit unnerving.

Chris soon made an announcement on the overhead speakers that the challenge was over and that all campers should meet at the infirmary tent. Gwen and Trent both glanced at each other, surprised that the challenge was already over and they hadn't encountered a single "hunter." Trent shrugged it off, but Gwen felt a pang of anxiety.

Upon returning back to the infirmary tent, the first thing that Gwen noticed was that her entire team was covered in two shades of paint. Gwen attempted to stifle a laugh at how ridiculous Heather looked, but she failed, instead releasing some sort of half gasping-half laughing sound. Heather glared at her, crossing her arms with a "Hmmpf!"

There was no stifling her laugh though once Duncan and Courtney arrived back at camp, with their antlers tangled together and faces inches from each other, both featuring a heavy scowl.

"Oh, this is too much," Gwen mused with a smirk on her face. Owen laughed from beside her.

"Duncan, you sly dog you!" He exclaimed towards the camper.

"The girl can't keep her antlers off me," Duncan teased, which earned him a scowl and a swift kick to the groin.

" _Serves you right,"_ Gwen said through the Link. Duncan, however, was in too much pain to respond.

"Easy Courtney," Chris interjected. "Our medical tent's really only equipped for one at a time, and Cody's pretty messed up."

Gwen's head snapped around towards the tent and she saw Cody sitting in a wheelchair, completely covered in bandages. Her heart pounded, and her body started shaking. Gwen took a few deep breaths, trying not to come off as too concerned for the boy who she was supposed to not like. Duncan pushed a feeling of comfort through their Link, for which Gwen was grateful for.

Chris declared the Bass the winners, which meant that everyone except for Cody began to head back to camp.

"You coming?" Trent asked Gwen when she hesitated.

"In a minute," She responded. Thankfully, Trent didn't question her. Instead he smiled and nodded, beginning to follow everyone else back to camp.

Gwen immediately dashed over to Cody, who thankfully wasn't being watched by Nurse Chef at the moment.

"What happened?!" Gwen asked quickly. Her hands moved over Cody's torso, poking at bandages. She only stopped once Cody winced in pain.

"Apparently bears don't like when you don't share food with them, heh heh," Cody said weakly.

"A bear?" Gwen gasped. "You were mauled by a BEAR? Why didn't you just fly away?"

"In front of the entire viewing audience?" Cody shook his head. "I couldn't have done that."

"Wait so you mean that there were cameras watching you when a bear attacked, and no one stepped in to do anything?" Gwen asked, anger bubbling in her chest.

"Some interns got me out of there eventually," Cody shrugged. "Honestly it looks a lot worse than it is. I'll be fully healed in a week, with our accelerated healing abilities."

Gwen sighed. "You're right. I'm just glad you're going to be okay."

"You should go back to camp," Cody suggested. "There's no way that I'm going to survive elimination this time, so I just want some time to sleep this off."

"Okay," Gwen agreed. She pressed a quick kiss to her brother's bandage-covered cheek before heading back down towards camp.

 **oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

When Gwen arrived back at camp, she was immediately met by Duncan's concerned face. He grabbed her arm and quickly pulled her behind the Bass cabin.

"Please tell me he's okay," Duncan asked, his eyes wide in fear.

"He's hurt, but he'll be fine," Gwen assured him. Duncan let out a huge sigh of relief, putting his arms around Gwen and pulling her close in a hug.

"When I saw him like that, I thought for sure he wasn't going to be okay," Duncan muttered softly into Gwen's hair. Gwen wasn't huge on hugging, but she found herself relaxing under Duncan's grip.

"I know, me neither," Gwen admitted. She pulled herself away and felt Duncan's grip on her release. "But he's going to be fine. Cody will heal fast, and then he'll be back to annoying everyone."

"He's not going to survive elimination," Duncan interjected. "What's he going to do when he gets voted off? He has nowhere to go."

"Izzy's going to take care of him for a while," Gwen responded. "I had a feeling that Cody might get voted off before either of us, so I arranged with her and Bridgette that if either of them were to be voted off before Cody, that they would stick around until he's voted off so that they can watch over him."

"You're trusting crazy Izzy with your little brother's life?" Duncan's jaw dropped. "I thought the point of this was to _not_ kill him."

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Izzy isn't as crazy as you think."

"RCMP ring a bell?" Duncan reminded her.

"Ok, so Izzy is crazy," Gwen admitted. "But you know that she steps up to the plate when she has to. I have no doubt that she is going to take care of Cody properly and make sure that he heals."

Duncan nodded slowly. "If you trust her then I trust her."

"Neither of us have much of a choice," Gwen pointed out. "But it's the best option we have. Now, I have to go to the campfire soon. I'll check in with you after?"

"Okay," Duncan agreed. He opened his mouth again as if he was going to say more, but quickly shut it, leaving Gwen wondering what words were on the edge of his lips that he didn't want to let out.

 **Ooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

The campfire ceremony that night was the most predictable one that Gwen had seen yet. It was no secret that Cody was going home, with his injuries meaning he wouldn't be able to compete for a while anyways. Even though the votes weren't revealed to the campers, Gwen had no doubt that Cody's elimination was a unanimous vote, hers reluctantly included.

When Chris asked for someone to help take Cody down to the docks, Gwen began to stand up. However, Annoying Beth somehow managed to beat her to the punch and grabbed the handles of Cody's wheelchair before Gwen could even open her mouth. She briefly considered staging a protest, but knew that her teammates would question that, so she decided to just fly out and see Cody later that night instead.

"Want to go for a swim?" Trent offered her as the team stood up to leave the campfire.

"Sure," Gwen shrugged. She glanced back over at Cody, who was now being pushed by Beth quickly over to the Dock of Shame, and began walking back with Trent. The two chatted quietly on the walk back about the campfire ceremony, and were almost back to camp when the faintest of sounds drew her attention back towards the dock of shame.

"Is everything alright?" Trent asked when Gwen stopped in her tracks.

Gwen tuned in her amplified listening and heard the sound of water being disturbed. "Uh, yeah I'm fine. I think I left something back at the campfire, so I'll go grab it and meet you at our cabin in a few minutes, yeah?"

Trent shrugged. "Okay, see you in a few."

Gwen chuckled nervously, waiting for Trent to turn his back before she took off in an all-out sprint towards the lake. Gwen gasped when she saw that Cody was not still at the end of the dock, waiting for the boat as he should have been. Her eyes scanned the water carefully, finally resting on a few surfacing bubbles. Gwen pushed herself into the air, gliding over the water until she hovered directly over the bubbles. A glint of silver metal was all the confirmation she needed.

Gwen pushed herself higher up into the air, preparing herself for the dive she was about to force herself to do. With a nervous deep breath, she inverted herself and tucked her wings in, extending her hands out to break the surface of the icy water. Gwen forced her eyes open, and saw Cody slowly sinking towards the bottom of the lake.

"Cody!" She tried to yell out, though the water muffled her voice so it was just a dim scream.

" _Duncan!"_ She yelled through the link. The punk teen responded in rapidfire questions, but Gwen ignored him and focused on swimming towards her sinking brother.

Gwen grabbed the handles of the wheelchair and desperately tried to push herself up with her legs. After a few futile attempts, Gwen extended her wings out, and with the added push they gave her, Gwen managed to start moving her and Cody up towards the surface of the water. After twenty seconds of struggling, Gwen decided to ditch the wheelchair altogether, instead gathering Cody in her arms and swimming as fast as she could to the surface.

She rose out of the water with a gasp, air filling her seriously deprived lungs. She looked around rapidly, calling out to Duncan from their Link. Gwen knew that flying was impossible, with her wings being absolutely soaked and her entire body aching already from the strain of rescuing Cody.

Thankfully, Duncan flew in only a few seconds later, not even asking questions as he grabbed Cody from her arms and flew him safely to the mainland. Gwen forced herself to swim forward, slowly inching back to the shore. When she finally got back, Duncan was ripping the bandages off of Cody. He began pumping his chest, attempting to force out the water.

"You'd better not make me do mouth to mouth on you, squirt," Duncan warned the still unconscious boy. Gwen ran over to them as fast as she could, throwing herself down by her brother's side.

"Cody!" She exclaimed, cupping his face in her hands. "Oh my god, he's not breathing, is he?!"

"Okay Gwen, just calm down," Duncan ordered. "You freaking out isn't going to help anything."

"Then **do something** ," Gwen yelled back. "Don't just stand there berating me, go!"

Duncan leapt back into action, pushing rapidly on Cody's chest. Duncan sighed as he realized that he would have to perform mouth-to-mouth, but Cody suddenly sat up, coughing water from his lungs.

"Cody," Gwen sighed, throwing herself forward and pulling her brother into a hug.

"Wha-"

"Shh, don't speak," Duncan interrupted the younger boy. "Give your lungs some time to recover, they were drowning pretty bad."

Cody's eyes widened, seemingly just realizing how close to death he actually was. He relaxed against Gwen's grip, and Gwen felt his body begin to shudder in sobs. For a few minutes, the three of them sat there, the only thing filling the silence being Cody's quiet sobs.

 _"He needs to go,"_ Duncan's voice said in Gwen's head.

"No, he can't," Gwen said out loud, causing Cody's neck to snap up towards her, leaning slightly away.

"Can't what?" He asked.

"You can't leave me now," Gwen cried, brushing away a tear she didn't even realize formed. "What will happen if I let you go?"

Cody's face fell and his eyes dropped to the ground. "I have to leave."

Gwen sighed. "I know," She responded weakly. "Izzy will take care of you. Crazy as she is, she can be responsible when she needs to be."

"She's currently running from the RCMP," Cody pointed out. "She's not exactly stable right now. But Gwen, I'm 15 years old. I can take care of myself. I'll be okay, I promise."

Gwen stared at her brother. Her mouth formed an 'o' shape. How had he seemingly aged so quickly with those few sentences?

"Okay," She finally said slowly. "But I'm taking you to wherever that boat was supposed to go."

Cody chuckled, though winced in pain. "Apparently there's a luxury hotel that Chris has the eliminated contestants staying at."

"Not fair," Duncan interjected, looking genuinely offended.

"Well come on, let's go," Gwen said. She stood up, hooking her arms around her brother and hoisting him into her arms.

" _Do you want me to come with you?"_ Duncan asked silently.

" _No, I need to do this alone. I'll let you know when he's safe. Be back soon,"_ Gwen responded before launching herself into the air, her brother safe in her arms.

 **Ooooooooooooooooo**

When Gwen returned back to camp after dropping off Cody, Duncan noticed immediately how drained she looked. The entire night had been a huge strain on Gwen's mental and emotional state, and Duncan wanted nothing more than to hide her away for a while and let her cry and scream without anyone watching. However, he knew that this would be impossible, as the cameras kept rolling into the night and the rules about staying in cabins at night are, surprisingly, strict.

So, Duncan settled by awkwardly watching from a distance as Trent asked Gwen what was wrong, with her plastering a smile onto her otherwise upset face and replying that she was just tired and needed rest. He then watched as Trent escorted her up to the Gopher cabin, and the two disappeared behind their respective doors.

Duncan was surprised when he felt a twinge of some emotion in his chest. He wasn't sure what it was exactly. It wasn't necessarily jealousy, but maybe something more like guilt. Guilt that he couldn't be what Gwen needed right now, because being that meant breaking the façade that Gwen had so passionately put up around the entire flock. Being that meant that the other campers would question everything about the two of them, and likely get them sent home. Being that, essentially, would mean separating the two of them, and Duncan wasn't willing to risk that.

So instead of being Gwen's strongest form of support, as he'd spent the years before and of their escape doing, he had to settle for pushing some lousy emotions of warmth through their Link. Gwen didn't seem to appreciate his interference, as she promptly shut him out, which meant she really didn't want to talk as cutting each other off from their Link required a lot of effort.

Duncan sighed, resigning himself back to his own cabin.

Needless to say, he didn't get much sleep that night.


	4. Fallout

Waking up to the sound of Heather screaming wasn't exactly what Gwen had in mind. Slowly, she opened her eyes and turned her head towards the center of the room where Heather was perched up on a chair, pointing at the ground in distress.

"Kill it, kill it now!" She screamed at Beth. Beth opened her mouth in protest, but a sharp glare from Heather caused her to gulp and take a tentative step towards the culprit.

Gwen lifted her head to see what exactly had Heather in such a fuss.

"A spider, really?" Gwen groaned. "That's what has you so terrified? That thing's like the size of your pinky."

"Fine, then you kill it!" Heather retorted. "I'm not getting _near_ that thing. God knows it might be poisonous."

"Doubtful," Gwen muttered. She rolled away from Heather, pulling her pillow over her ears. She closed her eyes, hoping to catch a few more minutes of sleep. Of course, the world was extremely against Gwen getting anything that she wanted.

The thrumming at Gwen's end of the Link grew louder and louder, meaning that Duncan was trying pretty hard to get her to unblock him. Gwen, half wanting peace and half in defiance, tried just as hard to continue to block him out. Eventually, Duncan gave up, as the Link went silent again. However, the effort to keep him out essentially caused Gwen to fully wake up, a fact which she was most annoyed with.

Gwen rolled her eyes, gently sliding off of her top bunk. Heather and Beth had managed to get Leshawna to kill their terrifying spider nemesis for them, but they were still occupying the cabin. Gwen changed quickly, blocking out the sounds of Heather arguing with Beth over something stupid.

Gwen took one step outside of her cabin before groaning.

"Really?" She grumbled, stomping down the stairs past Duncan. Duncan shot up after her, joining her quickening pace as she walked away from her cabin.

"What's with the block, huh?" He shot, accusation in his voice. "I thought we made a promise not to do that."

"I thought we made a promise not to overstep the boundaries with the Link," Gwen fired back, stopping dead in her tracks and turning on her heels to face Duncan. Her quick stop meant that Duncan was only a couple inches away from her, and the slight fear in his face was evident.

"Boundaries? I was just trying to make sure you were okay," Duncan argued.

Gwen's eyes narrowed. "You were trying to influence my emotions, Duncan. I don't usually care if you do it when I'm slightly stressed, or slightly upset, but when something as big as my brother nearly _dying_ happens, I really don't need you trying to intervene and change how I feel!"

"Okay, point taken, but I was just trying to help you out," Duncan said. "I didn't realize you thought I was trying to change anything."

Gwen sighed in exasperation. "Look Duncan, having a mental Link with you is pretty useful most of the time, but I really just need my own headspace sometimes, and I'd appreciate if you use your sense of judgement better and not stick your thoughts into my head when I don't want them."

Duncan's face contorted into a look that conveyed to Gwen that he thought what she was saying was ridiculous. "You've never told me this before. Has something changed?"

"No," Gwen said. "But I haven't felt any emotions as strongly as I have last night with Cody. Just give me a bit of space in the future, alright?"

Now it was Duncan's turn to sigh. "Alright, I will."

"Thanks," Gwen responded. She smiled softly, placing a hand on Duncan's shoulder for a moment before walking towards the mess hall for breakfast. She slowly began to open her end of the Link again, though not by much. It was just enough so that Duncan would be able to speak to her, but not enough that he'd be able to pick up on her emotions. This did not mean, however, that Gwen was unable to feel Duncan's emotions, as slight feelings of anger were boiling in her head that Gwen knew didn't belong to her.

At the mess hall, Gwen tried her hardest to make this happen as per usual. It was a non-competition day, which meant that spirits were generally happier and the two teams more likely to converse with each other.

Gwen took her usual spot next to Trent at the table, and the guitarist grinned whilst placing a few pieces of bread onto her plate.

"I figured you might want some, and for once I think Chef actually made it somewhat fresh," Trent added.

Gwen took one look at the bread and could tell it was at least a week old, but Trent's kind gesture still went appreciated by her. Gwen smiled brightly. "Thanks, Trent. God knows I need some help after yesterday."

Trent chuckled. "Hanging out with me in the forest really did a number on you, yeah?"

"You have no idea," Gwen teased, though her voice fell slightly.

"So, what happened to you last night?" Trent asked.

"Hm?" Gwen questioned as she began to tear apart pieces of bread.

"You came back from the campfire extremely late, but I figured I should wait until now to ask about it," Trent admitted.

Gwen mentally slapped herself. She told Trent she'd meet him at the lake after running back to the campfire site, but the whole Cody situation meant she'd been gone an extra couple of hours.

"I am so sorry about that," Gwen apologized. "I went back to the campfire and Cody was still there, so I figured I should apologize to him about how I treated him while he was here." It was a lie, but at least not a complete one.

"He practically stalked you, I don't think you're the one who needed to apologize," Trent mused.

Gwen shrugged. "Nonetheless. I guess the boat was just super late or something because we were talking for a while before it came."

Trent rolled his eyes. "Knowing Chris, he probably made the boat be late so that the show could get footage of you and Cody talking. They'll probably market you two as star-crossed lovers or something."

Gwen's heart fell. "They record at the campfire after the ceremony is over?" Gwen asked quickly. Her heart began to race in fear. She thought the cameras all stopped at a certain time in the night! If the cameras were still rolling at the campfire, it's possible that they got footage of Gwen and Duncan both flying, as well as the conversations they had with Cody.

Trent shrugged. "Beats me, but I've always assumed that they waited to get footage of the eliminated camper going on the boat."

" _Shit,"_ Gwen thought to herself. "Hey I'm going to run to the bathroom really quickly, save my seat?"

"Sure," Trent smiled. Gwen returned his smile quickly before dashing out of the mess hall.

" _Duncan, meet me on top of the mountain. Bring Bridgette, now,"_ Gwen said through the Link.

" _What, why?"_ Duncan responded immediately.

" _I'll explain when we get there, just hurry,"_ Gwen urged. She took off running into the woods, only pushing herself into the air once she knew she was out of the cameras' boundaries.

Duncan and Bridgette arrived at the top of the mountain a few minutes after Gwen, both of them sporting extremely worried looks on their faces.

"What's wrong?" Bridgette asked immediately.

"Duncan, you told her about Cody?" Gwen asked.

"Of course," Duncan nodded. "The whole thing."

"What if there were cameras?" Gwen said.

"Cameras…?"

"At the campfire, when we rescued Cody," Gwen continued. "What if cameras caught us flying?"

Duncan and Bridgette's faces both fell into expressions of shock.

"I never even thought of that," Duncan admitted quietly. "Shit, Gwen, this is bad."

"What do we do?" Bridgette asked worriedly. Gwen shook her head.

"You don't have to do anything, Bridge. You weren't there, so you're totally safe," Gwen assured her.

"I know that you and Duncan are the oldest ones here, but I'm old enough to help out," Bridgette interjected. "I'm not letting you two try and figure this out alone. The more brains, the better, right?"

Gwen stared at Bridgette for a few moments. "Alright. But if anything ever happens, I don't want you to expose yourself. _At all_. Understood?"

"Yes," Bridgette answered, though the tone in her voice made Gwen question how truthful she was being at that moment.

"So, what now?" Duncan piped in. "We have no clue where they are storing the camera footage, so it's not like we can go delete everything."

"I guess we play sitting ducks for a while and wait for it to be a problem," Gwen sighed. "As much as I hate playing the waiting game, we have no idea if the cameras were even on at that time or not, and if they were how much was caught. So basically, we can't do anything right now except for try as hard as we can not to be caught anymore."

"So, no more trips up the mountain," Bridge added. Duncan and Gwen both nodded, although reluctantly.

"No more power practice either," Duncan pointed out.

"And we should try to cut back on talking through the Link, to prevent any more mess hall episodes," Gwen said to Duncan. Shock fleeted amongst Duncan's face momentarily, before falling into a slight sadness. He said nothing, simply nodding in quiet response. Gwen felt numerous emotions running through Duncan's mind, so she attempted her best to block him out for now.

"Ok well we should be getting back before we're missed," Bridgette pointed out.

"You're right," Gwen agreed. She glanced over at Duncan, but the punk teen simply rolled his eyes before launching himself into the air and flying fast away from the pair of them.

"What's his deal?" Bridgette asked.

Gwen sighed. "I kinda got mad at him for trying to meddle with my emotions over the Link. I might have been a bit too harsh."

"And now that you've said you don't want to use it as much, he's pretty upset," Bridgette continued.

"Yeah, I think he's taking it as I don't like communicating over the link anymore," Gwen added. "I do like the connection, but I just need my own headspace right now."

Bridgette nodded. "Of course, and I'm sure he'll realize that eventually. Duncan is just dramatic sometimes, give him a day and he'll forget all about it."

"I hope so," Gwen admitted. "Now is not the time for any of us to be in a fight."

"Duncan loves you, I'm sure the last thing he wants is a fight," Bridgette pointed out.

"He loves all of us, and that doesn't stop him from fighting," Gwen reminded her, though with a lighter tone in her voice. Gwen smiled and rolled her eyes. "I'll talk to him later, smooth things out."

"Good," Bridgette responded. "Now let's get going before your _boyfriend_ notices we're gone."

"Trent is not my-" Gwen started protesting just to realize that Bridgette had taken off mid-sentence. Gwen chuckled to herself before extending her own wings and letting herself glide gently down the mountainside.

 **Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

Gwen spent the remainder of the day trying to get Duncan to talk to her. She tried everything, from glares, to notes, to shouting at him over the Link. Every time Gwen got near Duncan, he suddenly had someone calling his name or somewhere he needed to be. Honestly, it was getting a bit ridiculous.

Her chance finally came that night when Duncan was sat at the docks with Courtney. The two appeared to be in some sort of argument, as per usual, though the look on Duncan's face told Gwen that he was enjoying it. Courtney finally got fed up, screaming a bit of profanity at Duncan before standing up and stomping away from him.

"So, does she love you yet?" Gwen teased, taking Courtney's place. Duncan looked over at Gwen. He held his gaze for a few seconds, as if trying to read her mind without touching the Link.

"I'm sorry," He said, completely ignoring Gwen's question. "I crossed a boundary."

Gwen sighed deeply. "I overreacted. You were just trying to make me feel better."

"You've told me before not to send you emotions," Duncan interjected. "I guess it's just been so long since you've felt that bad that I just forgot about how you don't like it."

"Regardless, I shouldn't have said it like I did," Gwen admitted. "Things are just hard right now, with the competition getting more intense."

"You don't have to explain wanting your own space," Duncan said. "We're both getting older and don't need to rely on each other as much. Cutting back on the Link is probably for the best."

Silence fell over the two of them for a couple of minutes. Gwen was thinking to herself. Was cutting back on the Link something she actually wanted, or was it a spur of the moment request she made in a fleeting pang of anger? To be honest, she wasn't quite sure.

"Ok well, we should both head in for the night and get some sleep," Duncan finally spoke up. Gwen took a deep breath in and out before nodding slowly.

"We'll talk more after the competition tomorrow," She added.

"If that's what you want," Duncan shrugged. He stood up and walked away from Gwen, leaving a conversation hanging in the air with little closure for either participant. Gwen waited for a minute, staring out at the open lake before standing up and making her way slowly back to her own cabin.


End file.
